Here's why Rae Bareli, Meerut may not feature in 2nd Smart City list

Informed sources in the UP urban development department said that none of the two had sent its proposal for being taken up in the second round of the ambitious centrally sponsored scheme.TNN | September 16, 2016, 07:45 IST

LUCKNOW: Despite the Centre's approval to include Rae Bareli and Meerut under the Smart City project, the two cities are unlikely to make it to the next round of selection process scheduled on September 19.

Informed sources in the UP urban development department said that none of the two had sent its proposal for being taken up in the second round of the ambitious centrally sponsored scheme.

"The Centre gave its clearance for the two cities too late even though the state government had sent their names long ago. It is impossible to get the proposals so soon," said a senior official in the department.

Urban development secreatary Sri Prakash Singh said that the chances of the proposals from Rae Bareli and Meerut were "bleak".

"The state government has done its bit as far as the Smart City project is concerned," he told TOI on Thursday.

Sources said the two cities will take at least four months to prepare their proposals which might be put forth in the third round of selection expected in the beginning of next year.

Under the second round, as many as 27 cities are proposed to be selected from a list of 76. In the first round conducted in June, the Centre selected 20 cities. UP government had sent the proposals of 12 cities but none could make it to the first list. The 12 names have been sent this time again.

The Centre had allocated a quota of 13 cities to UP under the project kicked off by the Centre in 2015. But the state government said it would send names of 14 cities so that both Meerut and Rae Bareli were included.

The project took political overtones after the Centre objected to the UP government's proposal asking why Rae Bareli, the parliamentary constituency of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, was given preference over Meerut, the parliamentary constituency of BJP MP Rajendra Agarwal.

The state government, on the other hand, clubbed the two cities into one bracket while insisting that both Rae Bareli and Meerut were on equal footing. Sources said that even though the state government did not sent the names of the two cities in the first round, it appointed a consultant for charting out a blue print for the development of the two cities.

A 'smart city' is an urban region that is highly advanced in terms of overall infrastructure, sustainable real estate, communications and market viability. It is a city where information technology is the principal infrastructure and the basis for providing essential services to residents.